Monday, February 18, 2019

A new episode of Five Minutes Five Issues posted is out. You can listen to it, and read a transcript, below. You can also find previous episodes of the show at Stitcher, iTunes, YouTube, and SoundCloud.

Listen to the new episode here:

Read a transcript of the new episode, including links to further information regarding the topics discussed, here:

The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity welcomes you to Five Minutes Five Issues.

Starting in five four three two one.

Hello, I am Adam Dick, a Ron Paul Institute senior fellow.

Let’s start.

Issue one.

In the December 15 episode of Five Minutes Five Issues, I commented that, after United States House of Representatives leadership acted that week to prevent a vote on the House floor on a resolution seeking to end the US military’s involvement in the Yemen War, it would demonstrate a “fresh start” if the incoming House leadership put in place by a new democratic majority would “put the US military’s participation in the Yemen War immediately up for a floor vote when the next Congress begins.”

Given the new leadership has been in charge for about a month and a half, the vote took longer to happen than I had hoped. But, on Wednesday, the House did vote in favor of withdrawing the US military from involvement in the Yemen War. The vote was largely split on party lines. All 230 voting Democrats were joined by 18 Republicans in voting for the resolution. Nearly 90 percent of Republicans voted “no.”

Last Congress, the Senate passed the Yemen War resolution. Will the Senate now pass the House-approved resolution, or will the Senate’s Republican leadership this time block the resolution’s progress?

Issue two.

In the January 19 episode of Five Minutes Five Issues, I talked about six states potentially legalizing marijuana this year through state legislature votes. Legislation is advancing in other state legislatures as well. Kyle Jaeger wrote at Marijuana Moment that, last week, legislative committees in Hawaii and New Mexico approved legalization legislation.

During his state of the union speech last week, much of the audience composed largely of Congress members and high-level government employees applauded when President Donald Trump declared, “All Americans can be proud that we have more women in the workforce than ever before.” However, this does not seem like something Americans should be proud of. Instead, shouldn’t Americans be sad about this? Now many more families need two adults working instead of one to obtain sufficient income.

Issue four.

The US government’s effort, with all options — including military force — on the table, to replace the president of Venezuela with a US government-approved politician fits in with the US government’s long record of overthrowing foreign governments. Discussing one such US-engineered government overthrow, Jacob Hornberger of the Future of Freedom Foundation wrote in a Wednesday article:

In 1953, the CIA, which is one of three principal parts of the national-security branch of the federal government, secretly initiated a regime-change coup in Iran, one that not only ousted from power the democratically elected prime minister of the country, Mohammed Mossadegh, but also destroyed Iran’s experiment with democracy. That’s ironic, of course, given that U.S. officials are always reminding people how enamored they are with “democracy.”

Hornberger also describes in his article what followed in Iran — a description that provides a warning for people thinking a US-backed overthrow of the Venezuela government will help Venezuelans. Hornberger writes in part:

For the next 25 years, the Shah and the CIA-trained and CIA-supported SAVAK ruled Iran with a brutal and oppressive iron fist. Indefinite detention, brutal torture, kangaroo trials, and executions were hallmarks of the Shah’s regime.

Issue five.

Joe Setyon reported last week at Reason that the New York City Police Department has informed Google that the police department “will pursue all legal remedies to prevent the continued posting” of so-called drunk driving checkpoints’ locations by individuals using the Waze application. The police department says in a February 2 cease-and-desist letter to Google that “posting of such information for public consumption is irresponsible since it only serves to aid impaired and intoxicated drivers to evade checkpoints and encourage reckless driving.” Setyon wisely counters that posting such information is “a help to any sober driver who wants to avoid the delays and hassle that these Fourth Amendment–shredding checkpoints impose.”

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That’s a wrap.

Transcripts of Five Minutes Five Issues episodes, including links to related information, are at the Ron Paul Institute blog.